We want the Linux Mint IRC channels to be a pleasing experience for as many people as possible. It should be a safe space for everybody, regardless of age or gender. We can't achieve that alone; each of us contributes to the tone on the channels. Thank you for helping to keep the channels a pleasant and comfortable place to be.

The #linuxmint-help channel is for getting help from other Linux Mint users with problems or questions you have with or on Linux Mint. You may ask for help with any software that you want to use on Linux Mint (unless forbidden by the rules). Use the #linuxmint-chat channel for general chat with other users.

1. Rules

Whether it's to chat or to find help, people should feel welcome and comfortable on the Linux Mint IRC channels. For that reason the channels have rules.

In short: be civil.

The following is forbidden:

Purposefully insulting (e.g., swearing at them) or harassing people

Any discrimination against people based on race, gender or any other self-identifiable group

Anything else that makes using the channels hard, impossible or annoying for the majority of people

To enforce these rules there are volunteers that moderate the channels (called "channel operators", or "ops" in IRC lingo). They do their best to make the channels a better place for everybody.

The channels have additional rules and guidelines displayed in the topic when you join the channel. You can see the topic at any time by typing /topic in your IRC client.

2. Guidelines to getting support

Use a civil tone and assume good faith when entering a conversation. Speak plainly and clearly. All languages are welcome! (Though use English if you can, as you'll find more users able to help you.)

Before asking a question in the support channel please search for a solution, both on the Linux Mint forums and on the Internet.

You do not need to ask permission before asking a question: pose the question to the channel and if someone is available to help you they will reply. Do not flood the channel by repeatedly asking the same question. If you do not get a response to a question right away, respectfully wait for a period of 15-20 minutes before asking the question again.

Do not direct questions to a specific user unless they have already begun to help you.

Use gist.github.com or dpaste.com or another paste website for sharing messages longer than a 3 lines of text. Flooding the channel will result in the channel bot temporarily silencing you. On Linux Mint 18 and newer you can pipe the output of a command on the terminal to the pastebin command (e.g., inxi -Frxzc0 | pastebin to paste your system info). The command will give you the link to the paste that you can use in the channel.

What are all those join.part messages you're seeing?
When you first use HexChat it may be disorienting to see all the messages about people entering (joining) and leaving (parting) the channel. To hide these message right-click on #linuxmint-help in the left sidebar of the HexChat window and in the context menu hover your mouse cursor over Settings to unfold the options there and mark "Hide Join/Part Messages" to hide these messages.

To globally hide these messages, for all channels on all servers, open Settings > Preferences from HexChat's menu. In the preferences window select General under Chatting in the left sidebar. Then on the right side under Miscellaneous mark "Hide join and part messages".

3. Consequences of breaking the rules

If somebody breaks the rules they can be warned. If somebody breaks the rules again they can be kicked (removed from the channel but they can rejoin immediately) and/or temporarily banned (they can't speak in the channel or rejoin the channel if they leave it). They can be kicked and/or banned without a warning:

if the violation of the rules is severe (for example, multiple strong and deliberate insults);

if they were kicked and/or banned for the same thing multiple times before and the violation of the rules is more than minor.

In extreme cases, when somebody uses the channels for severe trolling and harassing other people they can be banned permanently (denied access to it completely).

If you were kicked and/or banned by a moderator and do not understand why, ask that moderator about the reason in private message. Do not ask such questions in public message, they will be ignored without further discussion. If you think that you were banned by mistake, wait until it ends. Rare mistakes are inevitable in any kind of work. A default ban lasts one day.

If you were kicked and/or banned multiple times then obviously something is wrong with your behavior in the channels. If you do not understand what is wrong, ask the moderator who kicked and/or banned you. If their explanation does not satisfy you, you can contact the administrators at admin@linuxmint.com (include logs and other pertinent information). The administrators will take an appropriate action.